The Finality of a Smile
by roxiired
Summary: Oneshot: Exhausting all other options, they have come to a stand-still. Throughout the changes, they had striven to retain some form of normalcy, but this has only ended in failure. With a possible ending in sight, all they can do is smile.


**Author Notes**

Five years ago, I came up with a story concerning characters from Vampire Knight when I was walking home from school. I had never written a fan-fiction before, but I just had to put my thoughts to paper. This story was titled "Smile". While I had left the world of fan-fictions for a few years, I have recently started reading and writing again, and decided to rework "Smile". This is it, and because it is based on an old story, it only concerns the world of Vampire Knight as revealed in the first 40 chapters. It is an ending I saw as plausible back then, and yes, it is supposed to start out vague.

* * *

He smiled.

It was one of those slow, sad smiles, the ones seen on the faces of those who knew they were going to lose and accepted it. This smile was an uncommon sensation on his face, an expression he had hardly ever had to show. Since gaining his new abilities, his senses were stronger, his reflexes faster. He could smell the blood coursing through her veins, could see the gentle throbbing at the nape of her neck. This girl should be no match for him, but she had caught him by surprise, cornering him. However, he was not one to easily accept a loss.

She smiled back.

Her smile was more of an automatic smile, one that had no real feeling behind it. She just couldn't help smiling back at a person who had smiled at her. Ever since the _incident_, everyone had been so kind to her, always smiling at her. Perhaps they were smiling _for _her, trying to encourage her from musing over the events that were buried in her memories. Either way, she had gotten used to always smiling at everyone. Recently however, she had a new reason to smile. He had her genuinely smiling when they first met, and they had only gotten closer throughout their days together. Although his face was often stoic, she would always try to smile for him, hoping the smile would become infectious. Until recently, this plan had seemed to work, as while he would hardly smile for anyone else, he always managed to save a secret smile for her.

She then remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

It was the cool touch of metal that brought her back. She quickly glanced down at her hands and shivered, her smile changing to a look of despair. She longed for the usually warm touch of him but realized she could not have it. She remembered a happier time; an idyllic era where attending classes was the most of her worries. Although she knew of the dangers that vampires had represented, they had never affected her in such a way. Incidents were isolated situations, far away from the gates of the academy. Her eyes wandered, taking in the full extent of her surroundings. The body lying beside him was white in the pale moonlight. It was the voice of her best friend that had brought her to the courtyard, a voice tortured into the shrill notes of a scream. Immediately she dashed outside, but when she arrived it was already too late. It was only pure luck that she was able to surprise him. By some twist of fate, she was able to stand there able to act while he remained frozen. Only the wind moved, tinged with the metallic scent of blood.

She looked at his face and smiled again.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was not moving and his eyes appeared drowsy but he appeared almost normal, despite the now peeling crimson streaks on his face. This is what had made her happy; this normality despite the abject abnormality of the situation. She was after all, still a high school student, and he had been the same. _Maybe he's still here_. She knew though that she was only trying to delude herself. _If he was still here it wouldn't have come to this. How, after everything that has happened, after everything we have been through together, could it have come to this?_ She fingered the fading marks on her neck. Even when he had changed, they had tried to maintain some form of normalcy. When the situation had degraded, all alternative options exhausted, she had given him the essence of her life, and this had sated him. Until now. Her smile faded as she wiped the tears from her checks with her free hand.

His smile changed.

It was more like a sneer, the kind of smile seen on the face of the obvious winner. He was mocking his competition. She had all of this time, and she had still not acted. She had wasted her chance, had spent too much time visibly hesitating. He now knew that he would defeat her. She was too weak to act, too weak to harm him. While her thoughts had been wandering, his were clear, focused on one thing. _Blood._ The look of insanity returned to his eyes as he began to move.

She didn't have much time left. He was almost completely free of the magic's grasp. He would soon attack her.

Shaking, she whispered "I love you" and squeezed the trigger.


End file.
